An archive of articles and listserve postings of interest, mostly posted without commentary, linked to commentary at the Education Notes Online blog. Note that I do not endorse the points of views of all articles, but post them for reference purposes.

6 comments:

Anonymous
said...

This is a very cynical way to look at people trying to help. You're right, TFA doesn't solve everything. But it does do something. It's better than nothing.

As a privileged-white-suburban-someone who is applying for TFA, I'd caution against this idea that we are merely using TFA to "assuage our guilt". I think if you took the time to talk to some of us, you'd be surprised about how many of us actually do care about enacting a lasting change in the education system.

TFA should be encouraged, not criticized. Our hearts are in the right place. If you want to criticize someone, go criticize investment bankers.

Firstly, it's very funny that an onion article was cited in a response. C'mon.

Secondly, an m.a. in education is one of the most over-valued degrees that American universities award. Incentivising universities for producing graduates with education masters degrees caused the quality of these degrees - and graduates, our teachers - to plummet. Someone with a masters in Education - from somewhere like the university of Phoenix - could be less-valuable than someone with any liberal arts degree from a top-tier university. Being a teacher is not a prestigious thing, especially those with modern degrees.

Finally, is it worse to fill gaps in our education system with highly-educated individuals temporarily, or to leave them unfilled altogether? Or, should we quickly send these educated individuals to the university of Phoenix to snatch up that coveted m.a. in education before they begin their teaching career?

In response to number two did you know that 60% of TFA Corp Members stay in the field of education after their two year commitment. I think this is pretty impressive, especially considering 60% of education majors who become teachers move on to something else in less than 5 years.

Wow.. I'm saddened to see that I seem to be the only commenter who actually got this post. And how depressingly and critically true it is.

Anon 1: Good luck in TFA. I mean this honestly. You will need luck in addition to your five weeks of training in order to "enact a lasting change in the education system" (which the career teacher with years of experience apparently can't).

Anon 2: The idea is that schools get federal bucks for hiring discounted TFA volunteers - so they fire more expensive, career professionals which cost much more due to their experience. This creates the "gaps" to be filled by very cheap teachers.

Anon 3: As usual, when a statistic is cited the citer hasn't thought through what it might entail. Most volunteers stay in education because TFA volunteers often have the option to continue their district contracts, but discover to their dismay that they actually have no other real job opportunities. So: (a) pay money to go back to school, or (b) make money staying where you are.

In order to make a compelling argument that TFA's fall in love with their job, or have a deep commitment to their cause (which may indeed be the case), you'd have to also have a matching statistic on opportunities they turned down *for* education.

Your statistic additionally disincludes all the TFA volunteers who get fed up before the two years are over.

The "60% of TFAers stay in education" figure is misleading. According to TFA themselves, only 28% actually stay on AS TEACHERS, and that data is only based on a self-selected survey that was only offered to people who completed the full two year commitment. So the real number of continuing TFA teachers is probably much lower.

Although I have no knowledge of TFA beyond the fact that I have two young relatives who participated this article appears to make some very good points. Any first year of teaching is not one's best. Reaching one's best takes two to three years minimum and then there is also the fact that one often makes the discovery in the first year or two (max) that the profession is not for one. This last scenario is not a rarity. It is 50% and this holds for TFA. Why should children in a troubled school have to contend with this? They can't afford to lose a year and lose a year they very well may given the situation of a rookie teacher. No matter how brilliant , no matter how even starry-- eyed motivated a young teacher may be this profession can be major league difficult and many are called but few are chosen so to speak. The effort to reach into the colleges to find the best and the brightest is commendable but there has to be another way to do it because children especially those in difficulties cannot afford to lose a year. Be honest about TFA statistics in the light of this fact.

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About Me

Norm Scott worked in the NYC school system from 1967 to 2002, spending 30 of those years teaching elementary school in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn (District 14). He retired in July 2002. He has been active in education reform and in the UFT, often as a critic of union policy, since 1970, working with a variety of groups. In 1996 he began publishing Education Notes, a newsletter for teachers attending the UFT Delegate Assembly. In 2002, he expanded the paper into a 16-page tabloid, printing up to 25,000 copies distributed to teacher mailboxes through Ed Notes supporters. Education Notes started publishing a blog in Aug. 2006. Norm also writes the School Scope education column for The Wave, the Rockaway Beach community newspaper.